2.5 stars There is no way that this isn’t going to sound like splitting hairs given the genre, but The Chocolate Rose is a very, very hearts and flowers romance novella that is… too romantic? Everything is expressed so very ardently, and I totally get the appeal, but it’s not for me. This book is very But I’m more here for So, like, witticisms and sarcasm. The level of romantic proclamations on display go a long way to mask the fact that, for me, there […]
I am time-lagged, but this is a great book
To Say Nothing of the Dog was delightful, especially reading it so quickly after the extended bleakness of Doomsday Book. I liked the latter, but To Say Nothing of the Dog had humor, levity, and, importantly, seemed much more edited. The story follows Ned Henry, a future historian who, along with the entire time travel research group at Oxford, has been enlisted by a demanding, omnipresent, and stubborn benefactor to rebuild the previously destroyed Coventry Cathedral in Oxford. Why, you ask? Well, her great-great-great grandmother […]
Two paranormal romances, two thumbs up
It’s been a week since I finished the first two books in Shelly Laurenston’s frothy, ridiculous, and addictive series, Call of Crows. I mention the length of time before writing this review because my brain has rather eliminated many of the plot points and details that distinguish the books from each other, so I’ll be grabbing synopses from Goodreads and asking your forgiveness for my laziness. Most relevant points of interest to this review are these: 1) If you like the idea of paranormal romance […]
Slow your roll, Nicholas Sparks
Lit fic as a category is pretty up its own ass, and many reviews for these books are also up their own asses, in a phlegmy, colonic matryoshka of sycophancy and intellectual pre-ejaculate. I don’t really care to participate in this shitfest, so instead, here’s a bulleted list of what worked and didn’t work about A Little Life. There be spoilers. This was fine * Yanagihara: “One of the things I wanted to do with this book was create a protagonist who never gets better.” […]